Bringing Out the Best In Your Teenagers: A 5 Step Plan

When you bring forth the best there is within you, you lift yourself to greater and greater heights. I don't believe we have the right to sit on our greatness. We have the responsibility to put our gifts to work. It is important to let our young people know that there is importance and significance to their stories, their songs, their concerns, their questions, their ideas, their answers and their journeys. Tell them that all their best is still within them. Inspire them to reach within for it, and bring it out for the world to marvel at.

Teenagers are sometimes bedeviled by their own temperaments. Much of the time, they are as confused by their own behavior as their parents are. They need to understand that no matter what outer behavior they find themselves presenting, there is still goodness inside them. Let them know that you see it even if they don't. Beneath that coolness, that tough stance, that hard cynicism, that rebelliousness, there is still the good child, the person with goodness to share. They need to give themselves permission to unleash that goodness - not to please adults or authority figures, but in order to reflect that higher consciousness: the best of themselves.

Here is a little checkup list for teenagers that can help them evaluate their lives.

1. Check yourself: What do you want from your life? Is your behavior bringing the results you want in life? Is it moving you toward your dreams? How do you see yourself in the future? How can you get to where you want to be? Are you molding now what you want to be as an adult?

2. Check your relationships: Do your friends tear you down or build you up? Do they weaken you and make you dependent on their approval? Or do they make you feel strong and capable? Measure the value of each relationship against how that person makes you feel about yourself. Is this person more likely to help you get on the honor roll or the detention list?

3. Get a plan: No pressure here; it doesn't have to be for your lifetime. Just for the next week, month and year. Get some help and determine the steps you need to take to make that plan work. What is it that you like to do? How do people make a living doing that? Are you interested in making that your career? Think about the type of person you want to become, not the type of possessions you want to accumulate.

4. Recognize your own value: Respect yourself. Think about the activities that give you the most satisfaction, the skills or talents that you have that you can build upon and turn into lifelong gifts. Develop them, take pride in your abilities and your creativity and the strength of your character. Each of us is unique; celebrate your uniqueness and the diversity of the world around you. Be secure within yourself so that no one controls your destiny but YOU.

5. Seek mentors and role models: Sit down and talk to people who are doing what you think you want to do. Volunteer to work for them or ask to spend a week following them as they work. Role models don't have to be adults; they just have to be positive people.
     # 0010